How is it that I don’t know half of this? FYI, this post is anonymous. Dumping on someone no one will ever find out about is not the same as outing someone.
2 Likes
I find it abhorrent behavior and unbecoming of users who are old enough to know better.
Anonymous cyber bullying is still cyber bullying.
8 Likes
Want to know what is even more abhorrent? Someone’s family having the wealth to get someone into a college they don’t deserve. That’s what this vent was about. I’m sorry you don’t like it, but it’s not your place to tell me what I should be saying about something that is unscrupulous. Furthermore, maybe you’re experiencing a bit of cognitive dissonance regarding the way our country is set up. People who benefit from the system tend to believe it is perfectly meritorious.
5 Likes
Sounds like the CC is not a good option in your area. I’ve only heard great things about Santa Barbara community college where you can TAG into UCSB if you want.
There are some excellent CSU’S too. Cal Poly SLO as an extreme example, and many other CSU’s that offer excellent majors. Not all campuses are impacted either.
4 Likes
Yield aside, they are evaluated in 2 different pools. OOS kids have lower over all stats. Its “easier” to get into a UC school if you are OOS. 2 kids w/ exact same stats one OOS and one in state, OOS is more likley to get in.
2 Likes
Actually prior to the UC’s went test blind, UCLA would post the Freshman admission profile for CA admits, OOS and International. The GPA and Test scores for admitted OOS students were higher so not an easier admit based on academics.
Here is the 2019 Freshman Profile: https://admission.ucla.edu/apply/freshman/freshman-profile/2019
6 Likes
Exactly. This is why they use holistic admissions. Context matters. Some schools do not offer many AP classes, some students can’t afford those tests, etc. But they show their qualifications other ways. Students are not entitled to a spot just because they want one and historically they might have gotten one. We have lots of good schools in California. I’ll say it bluntly. I told my white, fourth gen college-going child that she is NOT better than the less popular UC campuses, competition is fierce, she is not entitled to anything, and she needed to apply widely among our CA public schools and find something to love about all the ones she applied to. It’s frankly upsetting to see how many people look down on Riverside or Merced, or the Cal States, and it seems to have more to do with the population served than the quality of the education. I also say this as a newly admitted PhD student at Riverside. I’m proud of my school and the upward social mobility it affords to many of its students.
23 Likes
They absolutely take race into consideration. When they give preference to someone who is first generation or if they are low income, that is a gentle way of separating groups. Makes me wonder, do people lie about those facts, and who would really verify?
1 Like
While there are sometimes correlations between being 1st gen, low income, and URM, that is still not the same as considering race. It is looking at the underlying issues for why someone may have faced additional barriers without regard for skin color - it is applied equally to Black, white, Asian, NA, and all students. Or do you think there are no white 1st gen/low income students? That’s just silly.
8 Likes
Here’s something about him that might help. Many colleges including UCs are getting concerned about the decreasing #s of men enrolling in college. In the US it’s only 40% men, and falling, and in the UK it’s only 30% men, and falling. When filling from the waitlist, UC will look at “gaps” in their enrollment goals and his gender of being male I think will help. UC doesn’t look at gender when admitting during regular admissions as it is masked but I believe they do look at it when admitting from the waitlist. So one or more of those three waitlists might move for him for that reason alone. Good luck to him for UCSB on Tues. . .he only needs one. . .
2 Likes
It’s OK to vent. My DD has a similar story. She told me the student who was admitted into UCLA from her school (I think only one–she attends a small school) started, joined, and even led several clubs but then never showed up. She’s dismayed that he was obviously just using the clubs for ECs. HOWEVER she also told me that he nevertheless “deserves UCLA” because “he took 4 extra AP classes online every summer.” She said, “maybe I should have done that. . .” Sigh.
1 Like
UCs do audit apps during the evaluation period. A sample of apps are chosen in December for extra scrutiny, and students have to provide evidence of their jobs, internships, ECs, awards, etc. An applicant knows they aren’t chosen for that if they hear nothing about it by Jan.
All CA taxpayers who hate what is going on with UC admissions should vote accordingly, lobby their government and governor, etc. Not every state manages their admissions this way. It doesn’t HAVE to be this way–it’s up to the voters.
1 Like
Not specific to UCs, but a college admissions podcast podcaster stated that first gen poor white kids are the hardest to place. So it’s not really that silly. I believe he was referring to Questbridge students who are all low income. Schools want to increase their “diversity” numbers and poor white kids don’t help them.
The UCs can’t see this directly and a candidate will be given higher consideration just for being low income or first gen, however, a student who can speak to “diversity” in their app will get even more “consideration”.
Some (all?) cal states give extra points for merely going to a high school that has a high percentage of free/reduced lunch. I live near several high schools where wealthy white kids benefit tremendously from this. UCs also look at zip code of residence and zip code of school. In my opinion, a student should actually have to BE low income, not merely attend a school with lower average income.
I know the system will never be perfect or “fair” but there are always improvements to be made.
3 Likes
Yes grade inflation is obvious (standardized test scores going down while grades are going up) and a huge problem, and several school districts in CA (including my own) are even moving to eliminate Ds and Fs and allow constant “re-dos” until Bs and As are achieved, etc. As far as the SAT and test blindedness, UC had no choice due the court settlement really–but I hope they start incorporating AP tests in their review of apps to somewhat replace the SAT at least in the future. And I prefer test blind or test mandatory (the ideal) over test optional (the worst of both worlds).
Wow, I was out this morning and returned to 120 posts in the vent thread! You guys have been busy!
You don’t have to list any. However, you are given the opportunity to list up to 20 with several sentences describing both the organization as well as several sentences about what you did. As @socalmom007 said, someone that simply lists, “captain of varsity water polo” appears different than someone who describes the water polo team (1st section) and then provides additional detail about what they did as captain (2nd section). Additionally, one person might say they “led the team to the championship” and another might describe what they did to lead their team (organized fundraisers to pay for travel, led warm ups, cleaned locker room after practice, sent emails praising each team member for their contribution after a game, etc.). Two individuals may do the same exact thing but one person leaves it up to a reader’s imagination and the other doesn’t.
I understand wanting to choose a specific school to attend, however, I also want to point out that there are in-state options that are still accepting applications for many majors, including CS.
- CSU Chico - deadline 6/1/23
- CSU East Bay - deadline 4/1/23
- SF State - deadline 3/25/23
- CSU Stanislaus - deadline 3/27/23
I’m pretty sure you know this, but your student doesn’t need to attend your local CC. As was mentioned up thread, Cuesta near SLO, SBCC near UCSB and SMCC near UCLA are popular CC for students who are taking that route. They draw students from up and down the state.
I linked to a legislative analysis up thread. This may lend some insight into what has been happening over the past few years.
Some Key Factors Underlie Systemwide Undergraduate Trends. Freshman enrollment the past three years at UC has been more volatile than normal—growing 1.6 percent in fall 2020, growing 11 percent in fall 2021, and falling 6.1 percent in fall 2022. UC attributes the large increase in fall 2021 to the elimination of standardized testing requirements, coupled with the suspension of the statewide eligibility index due to COVID‑19‑related grading policies. (The statewide eligibility index is a formula used by UC to determine which students are in the top 9 percent of California high school graduates.) Both of these factors, in turn, contributed to a large increase in applications. Compared to these trends, transfer enrollment is on a clearer trajectory of decline, with a decline of 1.1 percent in fall 2021, followed by a decline of 9.1 percent in fall 2022. These declines reflect the lagged effect of declines in community college enrollment the past couple of years.
2 Likes
Although–as Woody Allen says–the wicked do prosper.
1 Like
I thought the name (as well as race, sex, etc) on the applications was masked during the application process.
1 Like
The thing is, UCs know that their yield rates for OOS applicants will be low, with a big factor of that being a result of the high OOS tuition. As such, the acceptance rate for OOS will typically be higher. Whatever the case though, I agree that more should be done to keep spots in UCs for in-state kids, instead of just essentially auctioning them off to a pool of OOS in hopes that one will actually want to commit and pay the nonresident tuition.
2 Likes
If applicants list cultural/ethnic clubs, or mention them within the PIQs, then there is no option for the AOs to ignore that. While I’m sure they try their best to not make a decision based on ethnicity/race/culture once they read something along those lines, as OP said, there will undoubtedly be bias.
3 Likes